Escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border
Escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border
The Armenian Defense Ministry reported intense shelling of its positions by artillery and mortars early morning on May 11 and four wounded. Information was received from Azerbaijan that “as a result of a provocation from the Armenian side, a soldier of long service was killed.” The situation had relatively stabilized in the afternoon.
Both sides claim that they took only retaliatory measures, and the operational situation is under the control of military units. Statements were made by the Foreign Ministries of both countries. The Prime Minister of Armenia announced that Azerbaijan’s goal is to nullify the negotiation process and disrupt the May 14 meeting in Brussels.
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Information from Yerevan
The Ministry of Defense of Armenia reported information about the escalation starting early morning with a frequency of 20-30 minutes. It was reported that “from 11:00 to 13:00, units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces continued to violate the ceasefire at certain intervals.” Only by 13:00 did information appear that the situation on the front line had relatively stabilized.
The Ministry of Health reported that an ambulance transporting wounded Armenian soldiers was struck by Azerbaijan.
“The Ministry of Health condemns yet another case of targeted fire on an ambulance and medical workers performing their professional duties. Such manifestations are contrary to all international humanitarian laws, even the laws of war,” the doctors said in a statement.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry called on the Azerbaijani authorities to “stop the groundless, unjustified and shameful attempts to disrupt the negotiation process with the use of force and thereby put pressure on Armenia.”
Armenian diplomats declared the escalation another violation of the fundamental principle of international law on the non-use of force or threat of force:
“These actions of Azerbaijan, aimed at destabilizing the situation, are also an open disregard for the meeting held in Washington, as well as for the planned meetings in Brussels and Moscow, aimed at normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the efforts of international partners interested in stability and peace in the South Caucasus.“
Nikol Pashinyan also presented his assessment of the situation. He began the government meeting with a summary of the situation on the border.
The main points of Pashinyan‘s statement:
“The actions of the Azerbaijani side are of a provocative nature and are aimed, among other things, at nullifying the progress of the negotiations held on May 1-4 in Washington.
The provocation is also aimed at disrupting the tripartite talks scheduled for Sunday in Brussels [with the mediation of the head of the European Council] and for June 1, the five-party talks in Chisinau [with the participation of the presidents of France and Germany].
Experience shows that Azerbaijan needs the negotiation process only for escalation and a casus belli, and escalation is used to nullify any progress made during negotiations.
The reports of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan about the violation of the ceasefire by our army are far-fetched. This information is fabricated to exacerbate the situation.
If the escalation had not been a deliberate provocation by Azerbaijan, any local incident could have been instantly resolved by checking and exchanging information and preventive agreements through existing channels.
This did not happen for a simple reason: no incidents were observed, and the Azerbaijani disinformation machine invented this “news” retroactively to aggravate the situation.
Another goal of Baku is to divert the attention of the international and Armenian public from the installation of an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, to create a new crisis in order to consign the old one to oblivion. This is a proven tactic of Azerbaijan.
I have not changed my decision to go to Brussels on Sunday for negotiations.
I want to answer in advance the question of how likely it is that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan will be signed in Brussels on Sunday. Unfortunately, this is extremely unlikely, because the draft bilateral agreement on the establishment of peace and interstate relations is still very crude and it is too early to talk about its signing.
We are faced with the task of finalizing this document as soon as possible and preparing it for signing.”
Information from Baku
According to the information of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, on the morning of May 11, “units of the armed forces of Armenia fired heavily from small arms at the positions of the Azerbaijani army located in the direction of Zod”:
“As a result of a provocation deliberately committed by units of the Armenian armed forces, Azerbaijani soldier Novruzalizade Orkhan Elkhan died.”
The department also reported that the units of the Azerbaijani army are taking decisive retaliatory measures: “The operational situation is under the control of the units of the Azerbaijani army.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan issued a statement:
“Armenia is stepping up military provocations against Azerbaijan in the border regions. Despite the fact that the Armenian side was warned that provocations and deliberate aggravations of the situation would be stopped on their part, on the morning of May 11, the Armenian armed forces further aggravated the situation by firing mortars at the positions of the Azerbaijani army, as a result of provocations, one soldier died.
According to the Foreign Ministry, “The fact that Armenia’s provocations, as always, take place against the backdrop of intensified negotiations on a peace treaty, as well as expected negotiations between leaders, indicates that Armenia is not interested in the peace process.”
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, once again, placed all responsibility for the aggravation of the situation on the military-political leadership of Armenia.
Azerbaijani Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva also issued an appeal in connection with “another provocation of the Armenian armed forces.” According to the statement of the Ombudsman, one soldier of the Azerbaijani army was killed, two more were seriously injured.
“We state with regret that Armenia, ignoring Azerbaijan’s calls for peace, continues military provocations aimed at gross violation of human rights. Contrary to Azerbaijan’s constant calls for peace, Armenia purposefully escalates the situation in the region, grossly violating the norms and principles of international law and international humanitarian law, and commits provocations in order to create new hotbeds of conflict.
As the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan, we once again appeal to international organizations and demand to immediately put an end to the military provocations of the Armenian Armed Forces, take decisive measures to restore peace in the region,” the appeal says.
